On Thursday 15 July 2010 21:49:38 Zack Weinberg wrote:
> I'd be okay with a much smaller patch. I didn't like my previous
> attempts to just insert the new normative requirements without also
> revising the whole section, but here's another go at it:
>
> * Replace "indicates three types of character escapes" with "may
> indicate one of three types of character escape. Inside a CSS
> comment, a backslash has no special meaning, and if a backslash
> is immediately followed by the end of the style sheet, it also has
> no special meaning."
>
> * Append "Outside a string, a backslash followed by a newline has
> no special meaning." to the paragraph beginning "First, inside a
> string".
>
> * Delete "Except within CSS comments" from the paragraph beginning
> "Second, it cancels".
>
> * Delete ", where allowed," from the note at the bottom of the
> section.
So far so good, but...
> * Append this text to the first paragraph of the note at the bottom
> of the section: "When a backslash has 'no special meaning', it is
> tokenized like any other punctuation character without special
> meaning: as part of a comment, part of a string, or as a DELIM,
> based on the context."
... this appears to put a normative statement (viz., the definition
of "no special meaning") inside a note.
So I wonder if the "no special meaning" phrase can be avoided. How about
this (which is otherwise the same as your list above):
* Replace "indicates three types of character escapes" with "may
indicate one of three types of character escape. Inside a CSS
comment, a backslash stands for itself, and if a backslash
is immediately followed by the end of the style sheet, it also
stands for itself (i.e., a DELIM token)."
* Append "Outside a string, a backslash followed by a newline stands
for itself (i.e., a DELIM followed by a newline)." to the paragraph
beginning "First, inside a string".
* Delete "Except within CSS comments" from the paragraph beginning
"Second, it cancels".
* Delete ", where allowed," from the note at the bottom of the
section.
> * Possibly change "must itself either be escaped or doubled" to
> "must be doubled", but this is a nitpick on a non-normative aside.
I'm fine with that change, too.
Bert
--
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